Post About My Cat

See I'm warning you from the get go. This is a cat post. It will include undeniably cute pictures of my grey furball. He is driving me crazy with his cuteness rolling around on his back tonight. I think the floor must be cool on this very hot day.

Last night Milo dressed up as a case of bottled water. He was hoping it was Halloween. Unfortunately, it was April 27th. Nevermind, in this house any day can be Halloween. I swear to you I did not put him in this bag nor did I entice him into it.


This is his favorite vulnerable pose as of late. But it's only me that thinks its vulnerable. He just likes to be like this down by our feet.

Seriously, can you stand it?

Ok, do you understand why I can't keep my hands off him?


Ok these are from my cell phone so they're a little grainy. Oh my furball!

If I was Slightly Religious

I would think this had great religious meaning. I think it still has great meaning. Beauty, hope, nature. I'll go with that meaning.

This is New England

I was going to title this 'Spring has Sprung' but really we all know that it's going to snow some time in May and it's just a lottery now to figure out when it's going to be. But we will not look a gift horse in the mouth.

The weather this weekend was like late July and damn it, we deserved it and we took it with arms wide open. People were out of the woodwork like ants at a picnic. Community groups were all over the city getting projects done, folks were out pushing strollers down by the water, and the trees were in bloom in what has to be their prime of what is always a very short Spring season. We are lucky we are having some temperate weather because some years we go right from Winter to Summer, wearing fleece right into June.

So I'm going to be done talking and share some pictures of the blooming I took yesterday. None of these are from my yard but most of them are from my neighborhood. I'm going to print 4 of them and bring some new life to my living room wall.

It never grows old

Today the church bells have been singing all day. Not a bad perk for a non-religious person. And this is another lovely sunset. From last night, post all-day rain.


Today we cleaned for a bit and I prepared for a yummy non-religious Easter dinner for after tutoring tonight. Easter was always an occasion for our immediate family to sit down and have a good Sunday dinner, often with extended family who celebrated themselves in the morning and then joined for dinner in the afternoon. When we were really little, we spent Easters in New Jersey with my father's grandmother and great aunt (thus my great, great, aunt. She was born in 1898!). This picture is from 1981 and my mother had made us those dresses. That was also the Easter of Strawberry Shortcake dolls in our baskets. I do remember that part of that Easter and almost remember where I found my basket at their house in New Jersey. Strangely, when I am reading books I often find myself setting the books characters in that house.

So anyhow, tonight we'll be having spinach and feta quiche with a pear and roquefort salad (you've read about that before and my intrepid love for it), followed by strawberry shortcake (!! my favorite and ideal for this post and Easter 28 years ago. My god I am old!) and Netflix.

Might I NOT recommend a movie called Happiness that I rented because sometimes I choose indie films that I really should read more up on before I rent them.

Happpy lovely Sunday.

Love Those Dirty Waters

Yesterday was Opening Day for the Red Sox. I've been to Opening Day before, the days before getting Red Sox tickets wasn't a crapshoot in an internet waiting room or a suck on your bank account. Those were the days. But I digress. Yesterday, though hovering around 45 degrees, was just as exciting as it always is going to Fenway.

The crowds at the T station near the park were lively but bearable. Hood milk company and a local radio station were posted outside the T giving away K signs to help support Josh Beckett on his first day on the mound for the season. The lines into the bars were stretched around the block as always and the sausage stands were back up and running after what has been a considerable winter. I even saw this guy! I took this picture in 2004 when we first won the World Series. I guess this guy has a secure job with the team.

It was mobbed inside the concourse as it always is and there seemed to be a spirited need to drink lots of beer. Perhaps it was because we all left work early, or because it was freezing, or just because it was opening day. But everyone seemed to be carrying their requisite and limited 2 per person and sloshing all over themselves on their way to their seats.

Part of sitting in the Field Box (we had excellent tickets. Thank you work!) is that there is a TON of people watching to be done. Yesterday was just like that movie Fever Pitch. There were clearly people around us with Season Tickets who have been coming to these games forever. The women in the stands all wear hoodies and baseball caps. New England is not a place for women who need to wear cute shoes and fitted jackets at baseball games. There were the requisite party girls a few rows over who talked to everyone around them and slapped high fives after every good hit. You totally feel like you are a part of Fenway, and a part of history. The park is tiny in comparison to a lot of others but they've found ways to add seats over the years and people still pay to get packed in.

The concession guys coming through the stands must all be told to emphasize their Boston accents. Bee-yah! Wah-tah!Crackah jacks! It's fun to listen to and fun to be a part of.

Ted Kennedy threw out the first pitch. It honestly brought tears to my eyes (I recently read a well-done series by the Globe reporters about the life of Ted Kennedy which I knew very little about). I was very happy for him and glad he was invited. The pitch went about 8 feet into the hands of Jim Rice.
We were lucky enough to be near the alley that they took him off the field with.

The flyover was awesome and Pedroia (MVP! MVP!) hit a homer in the first inning.

The music though, so much fun. It's gotten so much better over the years and Boston has so many established music groups that have just MADE being a Red Sox fan that much better. The Dropkicks are the official unofficial rock group for the Sox. When I hear the opening strains of Tessie my heart starts to flutter. Whomever does the music is pulling in some of their other fun (and not so crass) stuff like Sunshine Highway. There is now a whole playlist of songs that are a must at Fenway - Sweet Caroline, Dirty Water...you know it's just like a giant party when you're there.


To me, any big event like a baseball game or a concert is akin to a religious experience. Every Yoouuuukkkk and the roar for Papelbon when he came out to the close the game...I mean that's religion. Everyone there to support the same thing. Everyone has a fever and fervent passion for what's going on. There's energy, there's passion, there's crazy people, there's little kids in their first baseball hat eating $7 hotdogs. I mean really, it doesn't get any better than this.

Big Feet

I've got big feet. I am also tall. I'm not freakishly tall and my feet aren't freakishly big, but I'm just tall enough and my feet are just big enough to make clothes and shoe shopping a pain in the ass. I spare you no words in my description to explain my feelings obviously.

But I have this pair of shoes. I got them at Target two years ago. I love them. I wear them all the time because they dress up my work clothes ( I put very little effort into the work outfits) and they dress up jeans (for my intense social life in the city). In general, I like them because they make me feel like a woman and they make me feel good about what I'm wearing.

The heel is just right. As a 6 foot tall woman, anything over a kitten heel makes me 1) uncomfortable and 2) look freakishly tall around other people. These shoes have this kitten heel that, admittedly, makes a lot of noise when I descend the stairs in the morning because they are a slingback shoe. But the heel complements my boot cut work pants just so.

The closed toe and slingback make them appropriate almost year round. Ok, maybe with the exception of December through March. But my point is that they are utterly versatile.

So, my favorite shoes are in bad shape. They've seen a lot of use. Target is not carrying anything like them. If they weren't slingback, they'd have to be a size 12. But because they are slingback, they're an 11. I'm not going to find anything like this in a 12. Online stores don't work for me. I need to feel them and walk in them. My life is too crazy for mailing things back and watching my credit card report for charges to be reversed.

I know I can get them repaired, at least to some extent, but I mean, look at them. Flats that are out now are a great boon for me. But these little heels are all I have in this department and I'm a little despondent about their demise.

I'm done with my ode to my shoes. I might troll the interwebs for a little while now looking for a replacement, but I'm not full of hope.